Greek folk music - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Greek folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

includes a variety of Greek

Culture of Greece

The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern successor the Byzantine Empire...

styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and elsewhere. Apart from the common music found all-around Greece, there are distinct types of folk music, sometimes related to the history or simply the taste of the specific places.

Crete

The Greek islands of Kárpathos

Karpathos

Karpathos is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality Karpathos, which is part of the Karpathos peripheral unit. From its remote position Karpathos has preserved many...

, Khálki, Kássos

Kasos

Kasos is a Greek island municipality in the Dodecanese. It is the southernmost island in the Aegean Sea, and is part of the Karpathos peripheral unit. As of 2001, its population was 990. The island has been called in , .-Geography:...

and Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

form an arc where the Cretan lyra is the dominant instrument. Kostas Mountakis

Kostas Mountakis

Kostas Mountakis was a Greek musician who popularized the traditional music of the island of Crete, primarily with the lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra. His parents came from the village Kallikratis in Sfakia, Crete...

is probably the most widely-respected master of the lyra, which is often accompanied by the laoúto

Laouto

The laouto is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece, and similar in appearance to the oud. It is played in most respects like the oud .- Construction :...

which resembles a mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

. Bagpipes are often played on Kárpathos

Karpathos

. Crete has a well known folk dance tradition

Music of Crete

The music of Crete is a traditional form of Greek folk music called κρητικά . The lyra is the dominant folk instrument on the island; there are three-stringed and four-stringed versions of this bowed string instrument, closely related to the medieval Byzantine lyra. It is often accompanied by the...

, which comes from ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

and includes swift dances like pentozalis

Pentozalis

The Pentozali or Pentozalis is the trademark folk dance of the island of Crete. It takes its name from its five basic steps and its sprightly and ultimately very fast pace . The name can thus be translated as "five-jumps", its typically Greek wordplay implying that dancing it can make one jump...

and other like sousta

Sousta

Sousta is the name of a folk dance in Cyprus and Crete which is danced in Greece and generally in the Balkans. The music is generally played with a lyre , laouto, and mandolin ....

, syrtos

Syrtos

Syrtos , is the collective name of a group of Greek folk dances. Syrtos, along with its relative kalamatianos, are the most popular dances throughout Greece and are frequently danced by the Greek diaspora worldwide. They are very popular in social gatherings, weddings and religious festivals...

, trizali, katsabadianos

Katsabadianos

Katsabadianos ,is a folk dance with Cretan origin. It is very widespread in Heraklion and Chania.-References:*...

, chaniotikos, siganos, pidichtos Lasithou, maleviziotikos, tsiniaris

Tsiniaris

Tsiniaris ,is a circle Cretan folk dance from Agios Vasileios, Crete, Greece. It is usually danced by older local persons and is very widespread in Rethymno.-References:*...

, ierapetrikos and laziotikos.

Aegean islands; Cyclades and Dodecanese

The Aegean islands of Greece are known for Nisiótika

Nisiotika

Nisiotika is the name of the dances of Greek islands including a variety of Greek styles, played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere....

songs; Greek characteristics vary widely. Although the basis of the sound is characteristically secular-Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

, the relative isolation of the islands allowed the separate development of island-specific Greek music. Most of the nisiótika songs are accompanied by lyra, clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

and violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

. Modern stars include Yiannis Parios and the Konitopouloi; Mariza Koch

Mariza Koch

Mariza Koch is a Greek folk music singer who has recorded many albums since starting her career in 1971. On the wider stage she is best remembered for representing her homeland at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song Panayia Mou, Panayia Mou. Mariza Koch was born in Athens in 1944 but...

is credited with reviving the field in the 1970s. Folk dances include the ballos

Ballos

The Ballos Sirtos , is one of the best known Greek folk island dances in Greece...

, syrtos

Syrtos

, sousta

Sousta

Sousta is the name of a folk dance in Cyprus and Crete which is danced in Greece and generally in the Balkans. The music is generally played with a lyre , laouto, and mandolin ....

, chiotikos, kalymniotikos, stavrotos, lerikos

Lerikos

Lerikos is a traditional Greek circle dance. Participants hold hands at the shoulder level and dance in a counterclockwise direction.-See also:*Greek music*Greek dances*Sousta*Greek folk music*Pentozali*Syrtos*List of folk dances sorted by origin...

, kamara

Kamara

Kamara may refer to:* Amara Kamara, American starting linebacker for Temple Owls* Alpha B. Kamara, Sierra Leonean 100m runner* Chris Kamara, English footballer player and commentator...

, mihanikos

Mihanikos

Mihanikos is a traditional dance from the Greek island of Kalymnos. It is typically only performed by men dancing in a line...

, trata

Trata

The Trata is a traditional commemorative dance performed every two years in Megara in Attica, Greece.On the Tuesday following Easter in every alternate year, the women of Megara take part the traditional dance known as the Trata on the open space before the tiny church known as Saint John the Dancer...

, panagia

Panagia

Panagia , also transliterated Panayia or Panaghia, is one of the titles of Mary, the mother of Jesus, used especially in Orthodox Christianity....

and ikariotikos

Ikariotikos

Ikariotikos is a traditional dance and accompanying song originating by Ikaria a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, At first it was a very slow dance, but today Ikariotikos is a fast dance from Aegean islands . Some specialists say that the traditional Ikariotikos was slow and the quick "version" of...

.

In the Aegean

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

Cyclades

The Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...

, the violin

Violin

is more popular than Cretan lyra, and has produced several respected musicians, including Nikos Oikonomidis, Leonidas Klados and Stathis Koukoularis. Folk dances in Cyclades include lerikos

Lerikos

, syrtos

Syrtos

, syrtos Serifou, syrtos Naxou, syrtos Kythnou, Amorgos dance

Amorgos

Amorgos is the easternmost island of the Greek Cyclades island group, and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group. Along with several neighboring islets, the largest of which is Nikouria Island, it comprises the municipality of Amorgos, which has a land area of...

and ballos

Ballos

The Ballos Sirtos , is one of the best known Greek folk island dances in Greece...

.
One of the most famous singers of cycladic music is Domna Samiou

Domna Samiou

Domna Samiou , is a prominent Greek researcher and performer of Greek folk music.She received her first formal musical training from Simon Karas...

.

In Dodacanese there are prominent elements of Cretan music. Dodecanese folk dances include the trata

Trata

, ballos

Ballos

The Ballos Sirtos , is one of the best known Greek folk island dances in Greece...

, syrtos

Syrtos

, kremasti

Kremasti

Kremasti is a town on the Greek island of Rhodes . Located on the west coast of the island, Kremasti is 12 kilometers from the capital of Rhodes, on the road to the airport. It has a population of approximately 4,372 people and is the administrative center of the Municipality of Petaloudes...

, issos, syrtos Rodou, mihanikos

Mihanikos

Mihanikos is a traditional dance from the Greek island of Kalymnos. It is typically only performed by men dancing in a line...

and kalymnikos

Kalymnikos

Kalymnikos is a dance from the Greek island of Kalymnos in the Aegean Sea....

, with origin from the island of Kalymnos

Kalymnos

Kalymnos, is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of Bodrum , between the islands of Kos and Leros : the latter is linked to it through a series of islets...

Central Greece

In central Greece

Central Greece

Continental Greece or Central Greece , colloquially known as Roúmeli , is a geographical region of Greece. Its territory is divided into the administrative regions of Central Greece, Attica, and part of West Greece...

many folk songs make references to the klephts and their role during the Greek war of independence

Greek War of Independence

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

. Folk dances in central Greece include: antikrystos

Antikrystos

Antikristos is a Greek, Armenian and Assyrian folk dance Antikristos is a Greek, Armenian and Assyrian folk dance Antikristos is a Greek, Armenian and Assyrian folk dance (αντικρυστός in Greek language translates as "αντικρύζω" ("anti-face", i.e., face-to-face). Antikristos, has similarities...

, syrtaki (Zorba's dance), zeibekiko

Zeibekiko

Zeibekiko is a Greek folk dance with a rhythmic pattern of 9/4 or else 9/8 . The name of the dance derives from the Zeibek warriors of Anatolia. It is danced by one person only and is of free choreographic structure, which is often refers to ancient Greek tragedy...

, hasapiko

Hasapiko

The Hasapiko , is a Greek folk dance from Constantinople. The dance originated in the Middle Ages as a battle mime with swords performed by the Greek butchers guild, which adopted it from the military of Byzantine era. In Constantinople during the Byzantine times, it was called in Greek...

, kalamatianos

Kalamatianos

The Kalamatianós Dance is one of the best known dances of Greece. It is popular Greek folkdance throughout Greece, Cyprus and internationally and is often performed at many social gatherings worldwide. As is the case with most Greek folk dances, it is danced in circle with a counterclockwise...

, kamilierikos choros, koulouriotikos, syrtos

Syrtos

, tsamiko

Tsamiko

The Tsamiko is a popular traditional dance of Greece. The name literally means dance of the Chams. It is also known as Kleftikos , literally meaning dance of the Klephts .-The dance:...

, choros tis tratas, chatzichristos and syrtokalamatianos. The musical tradition of the region is also influenced by the Arvanites

Arvanites

Arvanites are a population group in Greece who traditionally speak Arvanitika, a dialect of the Albanian language. They settled in Greece during the late Middle Ages and were the dominant population element of some regions of the Peloponnese and Attica until the 19th century...

Epirus

In Epirus

Epirus (region)

Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay of Vlorë in the north to the Ambracian Gulf in the south...

, folk songs are pentatonic and polyphonic

Polyphonic song of Epirus

The Polyphonic song of Epirus is a form of traditional folk polyphony practiced among Greeks, Albanians, Aromanians and Macedonian Slavs in southern Albania and northwestern Greece....

, sung by both male and female singers. Distinctive songs include mirolóyia (mournful tunes), vocals with skáros

Skároš

Skároš is a village and municipality in Košice-okolie District in the Kosice Region of eastern Slovakia.-History:In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1270 , when it belonged to Trstené pri Hornáde.-Geography:...

accompaniment and tis távlas (drinking songs). The clarinet

Clarinet

is the most prominent folk instrument in Epirus, used to accompany dances, mostly slow and heavy, like the tsamikos, koftos

Koftos

Koftos is a lively Greek dance typical of the areas of Thessaly, Epirus and central Greece. "Koftos" in Greek means to cut and the name of the dance comes from the periodic interruptions in the music/tune. When the music stops, the dancers yell "Hey", and you can also put your arms up, down, or...

, menousis, fisouni, podia, sta dio, sta tria, zagorisios, kentimeni, metsovitikos

Metsovitikos

Metsovitikos is a kind of a local folk dance from Metsovo, Greece.-References:...

, iatros.

Peloponnese

Folk dances from the Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

include the kalamatianos

Kalamatianos

, kariatidon, monodiplos

Monodiplos

Monodiplos is a traditional dance from the area of Messenia in the Peloponnese. The dance is typically a Kalamatiano dance with two variations. There is a single step and a double step back variation that occurs in the dance. The song typically used in this dance is "Stin Apano Geitonia"....

, tsakonikos

Tsakonikos

The Tsakonikos or Tsakonikos khoros is a dance performed in the Peloponnese in Greece. It comes from the region, chiefly in Arcadia, known as Tsakonia. It is danced in many towns villages there with little variation to the steps....

, syrtos

Syrtos

, Ai Georgis

Ai Georgis

Ai Georgis is a dance from the village of Nestani in Arkadia, a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus which takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. The dance is performed and danced on the feast day of St George usually after Easter Sunday.-Dance:...

, maniatikos

Maniatikos

Maniatikos ,is a local Greek folk dance from Mani, Greece ,with a 2/4 rhythm meter.-References:*...

and diplos horos

Diplos Horos

The Diplos Horos is dance from Messenia in the Peloponnese, Greece. It is a dance where the dancers form a single circle formation into a double via the hand hold. The dance is a simple sta tria in formation but is accompanied by the song: Διπλό Χορό Χορεύουμε, Διπλά Τραγούδια Λέμε.-See...

. In the songs there are also references to the klephts. In Mani

Mani Peninsula

The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...

there is also the tradition of the mirolóyia (laments), sung by the old women of Mani.

Ionian Islands

The Ionian Islands

Ionian Islands

The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...

were never under Ottoman control and their songs and kantádhes are based a lot on the western style. Greek kantádhes are performed by three male singers accompanied by mandolin

Mandolin

or guitar

Guitar

. These romantic songs developed mainly in Kefalonia

Kefalonia

The island of Cephalonia, also known as Kefalonia, Cephallenia, Cephallonia, Kefallinia, or Kefallonia , is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece, with an area of . It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit...

in the early 19th century but spread throughout Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

after the liberation of Greece. An Athenian form of kantádhes arose, accompanied by violin

Violin

, clarinet

Clarinet

and laouto

Laouto

The laouto is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece, and similar in appearance to the oud. It is played in most respects like the oud .- Construction :...

. However the style is accepted as uniquely Heptanesean. The island of Zakynthos

Zakynthos

Zakynthos , also Zante, the other form often used in English and in Italian , is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It covers an area of ...

has a diverse musical history with influences also from Crete

Crete

. Folk dances include the tsirigotikos, leukaditikos, ballos

Ballos

The Ballos Sirtos , is one of the best known Greek folk island dances in Greece...

, syrtos

Syrtos

, Ai Georgis

Ai Georgis

, Kerkyraikos

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

and kato sto yialo.

The Church music (Byzantine)

Byzantine music

Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system...

of the islands is also different from the rest of Greece, with a lot of western and Catholic influences on the Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

rite. The region is also notable for the birth of the first School of modern Greek classical music (Heptanesean or Ionian School

Ionian School (music)

The term Ionian School of Music denotes the musical production of a group Heptanesian composers, whose heyday was from the early 19th century till approximately the 1950s...

, Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

:Επτανησιακή Σχολή), established in 1815.

Macedonia

Folk dances in Macedonia include Makedonia (dance)

Makedonia (dance)

Makedonia is a form of the Greek folk dance Hasapiko ) that has evolved over the years to the patriotic song "Makedonia Xakousti" , unofficial anthem of the Greek region of Macedonia...

, hasapiko

Hasapiko

, leventikos

Leventikos

Leventikos , also known as Litós , Kucano, Nešo, and Bufskoto Oro, is a dance of western Macedonia, mainly performed by ethnic Macedonians and Greeks in the town of Florina, Greece and in the Resen and Bitola regions in the neighbouring Republic of Macedonia.The meter varies: one is 12 = 3+2+2+3+2...

, zeibekiko

Zeibekiko

, zonaradiko

Zonaradiko

Zonaradiko is a traditional folk dance from Thrace that is named after the dance's handhold. Dancers hold the adjacent dancer's zonaria during the dance. Zonaradiko is a dance done in one form or another...

, endeka Kozanis

Endeka Kozanis

Endeka Kozanis is a traditional Greek dance, mostly danced at the region of Kozani. According to one point of view, it is a dance that was being danced at the weddings...

, samarinas, stankena, akritikos, baidouska, Macedonikos antikristos, mikri Eleni, partalos

Partalos

Partalos ,is a Greek dance from Macedonia, Greece. It is a danced exclusively by men and it is very widespread in the area of Pylaia, Thessaloniki.-References:*...

, kleftikos Makedonikos, mpougatsas

Mpougatsas

Mpougatsas ,is a kind of a Greek folk dance from Macedonia, Greece.-References:**...

, kastorianos

Kastorianos

Kastorianos ,is a kind of a Greek folk dance from Macedonia, Greece. It is very widespread in the cities of Kastoria and Kozani.-References:*...

, tromakton

Tromakton

Tromakton is a Greek dance that usually precedes or follows a Tik. It is a fast dance which has a distinct double bounce which becomes more vigorous as the dance goes on. It is usually played before Atsiapat or Serra , because it has similar steps and it is like an introduction for these dances....

, o Nikolos

O Nikolos

O Nikolos ,is a kind of a Greek folk dance from the area of Siatista, Greece.-References:*...

, antikrystos

Antikrystos

, sirtos Macedonias and Kapitan Louka

Kapitan Louka

Kapetan Louka or Kapitan Louka , is a dance from the region of Macedonia in Greece. It is a dance specifically from the area of Kozani. The dance is named after a freedom fighter in Macedonia. Only the tune has survived....

. There are also folk songs which make references to the Macedonian Struggle

Macedonian Struggle

The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts between Greeks and Bulgarians in the region of Ottoman Macedonia between 1904 and 1908...

(Greek Struggle for Macedonia), while it is notable the use of trumpets and koudounia

Koudounia

The Koudounia , are percussion musical instruments, like bells. They are made from copper. When someone play with them, they could give a ringing sound. Originally the koudounia, used by people like an amulet which were protected the animals from the evil spirits. The koudounia later, became an...

Thessaly

Folk songs from Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

are slow and stately, and include dances like the kalamatianos

Kalamatianos

, thessalikos, koftos

Koftos

, kalamatiano

Kalamatianó

Kalamatianó is a type of Greek folk music associated with a dance sharing its name. Originating in the southern Greek port city of Kalamata, its most recognizable feature is its asymmetrical time signature of 7/8 time, meaning that there are seven beats per measure, generally subdivided into two...

, tsamikos, kleistos

Kleistos

Kleistos horos is a circle dance from Thessaly. The dance is performed in a circle with the men leading and the women following in the circle. It is usually exhibited to songs like "'Ai San Alogo de me Varanane!" The dance has two parts to it, slow and fast. The handhold for the first part is...

, kangeli, gaitanaki

Gaitanaki

Gaitanaki is a form of a Greek folk dance from Thessaly, Greece. It is a circle dance. It is also very widespread in Epirus....

, pilioritikos

Pilioritikos

Pilioritikos is a kind of a Greek folk dance from Pilio, , Greece....

, svarniara, sta tria, karagouna and galanogalani.

Every year, before Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

, in Tyrnavos

Tyrnavos

Tyrnavos is a municipality in the Larissa regional unit, of the Thessaly region of Greece. Tyrnavos is the prefecture's third largest community within the Larissa prefecture. The town is near the mountains and the Thessalian Plain. The river Titarisios, a tributary of the Pineios, flows through...

occurs the famous Phallus Festival; a pagan fertility festival in honour of the ancient God Dionysus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

, with food and drink.

Thrace

Instruments used in ancient Thracian

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

music such as Bagpipes (gaida
Gaida
The gaida is a musical instrument, aerophone, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag.The gaida, and its variations, is a traditional musical instrument for entire Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East....

) and Byzantine lyra

Byzantine lyra

The Byzantine lyra or lira , was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine Empire and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin. In its popular form the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping...

are still the ordinary instruments of folk music in Thrace

Thrace

. Folk dances include the tapeinos horos

Tapeinos Horos

The Tapeinos Horos is a traditional Greek dance.The word tapeinos in Greek means "humble", so in many villages in Thrace, this dance is done with slow, humble steps...

, tripati, tromakton

Tromakton

, sfarlis, souflioutouda, zonaradiko

Zonaradiko

, kastrinos, syngathistos, sousta

Sousta

Sousta is the name of a folk dance in Cyprus and Crete which is danced in Greece and generally in the Balkans. The music is generally played with a lyre , laouto, and mandolin ....

, mantilatos, baintouska and apadiasteite sto xoro. Traditional Thracian dances are usually swift in tempo

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

and are mostly circle dance

Circle dance

"Circle dance" is the most common name for a style of traditional dance usually done in a circle without partners to musical accompaniment.-Description:...

s in which the men dance at the front of the line. The gaida

Gaida

The gaida is a musical instrument, aerophone, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag.The gaida, and its variations, is a traditional musical instrument for entire Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East....

, a kind of bagpipe, is the most characteristic instrument, but clarinet

Clarinet

s and toubeleki

Toubeleki

The toubeleki , is a kind of a Greek traditional drum musical instrument. It is made from metal, open at it's down side and covered with a skin stretched over it. It is played with the hands and used often in the Greek traditional folk rhythms, for the particularly cover of the Greek laiko and...

are also used. The Thracian gaida, also called avlos, is different than the Macedonian

Music of Macedonia (Greece)

Music of Macedonia is the music of the geographic region of Macedonia in Greece, which is a part of the music of whole region of Macedonia. Folk dances in Macedonia include Makedonia , chasapiko, leventikos, zeibekiko, zonaradiko, endeka Kozanis, Samarinas, stankena, Akritikos, baidouska,...

or other Bulgarian bagpipes. It is more high in pitch than the Macedonian gaida but less so than the Bulgarian gaida (or Dura). The Thracian gaida is also still widely used throughout Thrace in northeastern Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

Pontus

Pontic music retains elements of the musical traditions of ancient Greece

Music of Ancient Greece

The music of ancient Greece was almost universally present in society, from marriages and funerals to religious ceremonies, theatre, folk music and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks...

, Byzantine music

Byzantine music

and the tradition of Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

. The prime instruments in Pontic music are the Pontic lyra (Kemenche), which has origins in Byzantine times

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

and it is related closely with the Byzantine lyra

Byzantine lyra

and Cretan lyra. They are used also other bowed musical instrument from the West, like the Kit violin

Kit violin

The kit violin, dancing master's kit, or kit , is a stringed musical instrument. It is essentially a very small violin, designed to fit in a pocket — hence its other common name, the pochette...

and Rebec

Rebec

The rebecha is a bowed string musical instrument. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and 1-5 strings and is played on the arm or under the chin, like a violin.- Origins :The rebec dates back to the Middle Ages and was particularly popular in the 15th and 16th centuries...

. Other instruments include drums, lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

, askomandoura

Askomandoura

The askomandoura is a type of bagpipe played as a traditional instrument on the Greek island of Crete, similar to the tsampouna.Its use in Crete is attested in illustrations from the mid-15th Century.-External links:**...

(a type of bagpipe), davul

Davul

The davul or tupan is a large double-headed drum that is played with sticks. It has many names depending on the country and region.-Names:Some names of davuls include:*tupan *davul...

and aulos

Aulos

An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology.An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos...

. Folk dances from Pontus include the atsiapat

Atsiapat

Atsiapat is the first in a sequence of three tranditional dances performed in the region of Pontus, as well as by refugees of Pontos. Atsiapat is characterized by short steps and exadurated movements that resemble stretching. This dance is followed directly by Serra. The final dance in the sequence...

, dipat

Dipat

Dipat is an ancient spiritual dance of the Trapezounta region in Pontos . This dance is also known as Omal-Trapezountas. It is a very distinctive dance: the name of the dance means "two-step," but in reality the dance has an unusual movement involving more than two steps...

, tik, tik diplon, tromakton

Tromakton

, Pontiaki serra

Serra (dance)

Serra, was a Pontic Greek dance named after the region of Pontos. It is a war-like dance for men, intended to produce a fervent state prior to battle....

, ikosiena, trygona, tsestos

Tsestos

Tsestos , is a challenging dance from Northern Greece Tsestos , is a challenging dance from Northern Greece Tsestos , is a challenging dance from Northern Greece (the region named Thrace or in Greek language Thraki. The dance starts with a moderate rhythm and is danced by both men and women with...

and zonaradiko

Zonaradiko

Constantinople

The most known dance and rhythm is hasapikos

Hasapiko

. It is originated in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

as a battle mime with swords, adopted by the Byzantine military. In Greek it was called μακελλάριος χορός (makellarios horos). Hasapiko served as one of the bases for the sirtaki

Sirtaki

Sirtaki or syrtaki is a popular dance of Greek origin, choreographed, by Giorgos Provias for the 1964 film Zorba the Greek. It is not a traditional Greek folkdance, but a mixture of the slow and fast versions of the hasapiko dance...

and it is danced allover Greece.

Cyprus

Cyprus is an independent country, currently contested between the Republic of Cyprus and the internationally unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Northern Cyprus or North Cyprus , officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus...

. Cyprus' folk traditions include dances like the sousta, syrtos, zeibekikos and karsilamas.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.